Texas university shooting leaves two people dead

Toddler taken to hospital as campus lifts 'shelter-in-place' order

A shooting at a residence hall at Texas A&M University-Commerce forced the campus on lock-down for an hour. (Texas A&M University-Commerce)

Two women were killed and a toddler was wounded after a shooting in a residence hall at Texas A&M University-Commerce on Monday.

The university lifted its order for students to shelter in place, though classes are cancelled for the remainder of the day.

Shortly before noon, the university reported an active criminal investigation inside Pride Rock, a three-story freshmen residence hall at the university's campus in Commerce, Texas.

Campus police discovered three people suffering from gunshot wounds. The university announced a shelter-in-place order shortly before noon. It was lifted around 1.30pm.

Authorities later confirmed that a toddler remains in stable condition at a nearby hospital.

Campus police Chief Bryan Vaughn did not release the victims' names or say whether the women were students.

Yellow tape was stretched around the dormitory and nearby buildings while campus police patrol the area. Counselling is being offered to students at the Rayburn Student Center.

The university campus is about 70 miles northeast of Dallas. Roughly 6,000 undergraduate students and 4,000 graduate students are studying there.

Freshman Larry Cooper III, who lives in the dorm, told the Dallas Morning News that he left his room on the second floor just before the shelter-in-place order was announced.

He said: "If I hadn't left my room a few minutes earlier I would be stuck in my room right now. ... There's police blocking the doorways, but other than that we're all just kind of sitting in and waiting on the news to happen."

In October, two people were killed and a dozen others were injured after a gunman opened fire at an off-campus party near the university. About 750 people were attending a Halloween party attended by university students when a man entered the venue and fired a handgun into the crowd.